Creator responsibility

[Kamikaze]

Is it the fault of a creator if story in his fictional works are copied in real life?

Absolutely not. The old comic rules you're talking about (if I remember right) are taken from the Comics Code Authority which is a now defunct guideline of rules for censorship that was used in publishing. These rules started in the 1950's under the scare tactic logic that "Oh my god, this could be BAD and set BAD examples and turn our children BAD." And...well it's garbage logic.

The CCA is one of the reasons Lois Lane stopped being a reporter and became a housewife, why violence was skirted around, and why a lot of comic folks where REALLY frustrated when the stamp was in use. It's also the reason why in the 80's/90's when the CCA was largely abandoned by larger publishers that the darker themes and more adult oriented work became a HUGE deal. It was like creators were trapped in Nickelodeon for 30 years and suddenly the gates opened and they swarmed to HBO to create what they REALLY wanted.

You've got to give your readers more credit than that. We're not in the 1950's anymore, readership has evolved and been conditioned to understand more complex forms of storytelling that don't require those rules.

Respect your readers. You're a comic creator, not the individual parent to each and every one. :/

[mariusthered]

@Kamikaze It's nice to find someone who knows what the hell i'm talking about for once

and I agree we don't need those rules being shackles on our creative freedom of expression.

[UzukiCheverie]

Chances are, if someone needs a comic as an excuse to commit violence/criminal activity, then chances are that's all they were looking for - an excuse - and they've probably got a history of doing these sorts of things to begin with or having mental issues that stem into violence. And if someone tries to blame you for whatever violence it is they committed, then they aren't hitting the root of the deeper issue.

People say video games cause violence, but that's been proven as bullshit again and again - that the people who are "influenced" by games also have severe mental disorders, some completely undiagnosed and therefore not medicated. There's always more to it than "I saw it on TV."

If someone got some crazy idea from my comics? I'd tell them to stop being an idiot and take responsibility for their own actions. It's not our responsibility - the responsibility lies in the individual and their actions, and if they're kids, FIRST OFF they shouldn't be reading my stuff lol and SECOND that responsibility lies with the PARENTS.

Soooo yep.

[thesisterscomic]

But what I am trying to get at is the risk and worry of writing about crime is the risk of someone copying actions they have read in a comic. I for one would hate to hear my writing influenced someone to get in some sort of trouble. Now as the old comic rules use to say all crime must fail and not shown as a good thing to do.

It is highly unlikely whatever violence you're writing about hasn't been written before or been featured on television before. You cannot cripple your own efforts for the fear that some unhinged individual might emulate it on some level to satisfy their own ends. I mean, that's even if you did hit those odd-end variables of getting a reader who got that far gone and opted to emulate your fiction rather than any other they might be exposed to.

When those killers emulated Dexter Morgan, they weren't going by the books.

I'd say this isn't something worth worrying about. Care about producing quality content rather than the moon-shot chance that someone is going to kill/rape/steal in a way similar to your works. The media would be far more likely to blame video games on the perpetrators shelves than anything so small as a comic in their browser history.

It's easy to write a guy beating his wife and say "oh, no, of COURSE I don't condone that!" but to write the wife as an obnoxious harpy who kinda got what was coming to her. I think you can accidentally condone something with your message if you aren't careful, and if you don't examine your own feelings really hard.

I feel that's entering into some dangerous territory. I think the Fargo mini-series did it quite well, in almost that exact scenario. We do have a guy who does strike his wife, and his wife has pretty much belittled and abused him verbally to the point that we want to be happy he did this. But it is presented with this degree of distance, and it becomes disgusting; especially as we see the fallout of this and the lengths the character goes through to keep up the ruse. I think presenting a more balanced, or at least, a less strawman scenario, especially when there is going to be some nasty consequences, is important.

Whether or not the reader is okay with the results is on them. A good story should be able to make you feel conflicted. And not in a forced way like "But my evil would stop a greater evil, now that's on you" way; but rather a "I can see how someone in this walk of life could reach this moral event horizon and choose poorly in order to stop feeling the pain, even if it meant hurting others." We don't need to love our villains, but unless they were born slithering out the razor-trap of Satan's anus; they're generally still people with wants and needs which may be perverted or controlled in order to get them to do these bad things.

I guess in short; don't worry about some nutjob doing something based on what you wrote/drew. The odds are against you anyway, so you may as well enjoy the unfettered freedom.

[shazzbaa]

I think the Fargo mini-series did it quite well, in almost that exact scenario. We do have a guy who does strike his wife, and his wife has pretty much belittled and abused him verbally to the point that we want to be happy he did this. But it is presented with this degree of distance, and it becomes disgusting; especially as we see the fallout of this and the lengths the character goes through to keep up the ruse.

Oh man, thanks for adding this, actually -- this is a good point and a really good example of how to look at it. It's not a matter of "you can never show a victim of abuse as an obnoxious unlikeable person" or "crime must always pay" or "people who do bad things must afterwards be punished" or whatever, but you have to be thoughtful about how you're presenting it and what you do with it.

Ultimately I think that's the thing -- there's no list of Comics Code Rules that you can follow, where crime is okay if you show these things, but not okay if you show these other things. It's not that black-and-white.

I think presenting a more balanced, or at least, a less strawman scenario, especially when there is going to be some nasty consequences, is important.

I agree with this a lot!! I think you really need a lot of empathy if you're gonna tell these kinds of stories. A character who is hated by the creator and exists only to be punished for his crimes is gonna be a mess and won't ring true. The readers don't have to be able to sympathise with everyone, but I think the creator does, or else it's much harder to write them all with care.

[mariusthered]

A character who is hated by the creator and exists only to be punished for his crimes is gonna be a mess and won't ring true. The readers don't have to be able to sympathise with everyone, but I think the creator does, or else it's much harder to write them all with care.

very much so. One of my favorite Characters (and one of my first for swipe city) is not a nice guy. Clarence Potts is a victim turned psychopathy who kills "naughty girls" (meaning anyone who lies) in truth this character was born after living six years with a pathological liar and then I mixed him with elements of the joker (my fave bad guy ) For what this guy stands for I should hate him but I just can't bring myself to do so. ( sorry if this is a bit off topic)

[mccjohn295]

Is it the creators responsibility, if someone does something reprehensible because of their work. No I don't at least it should not be the case legally. I do think however that if a work becomes influential enough it can have an effect on culture, and effect peoples actions. Butterfly causing a storm and what not. As a creator, you should think about what your work puts out into the world, and if you're okay with this personally. But once work is put out there it becomes it's own thing, separate from the original creator, and can take on a life of it's own.

[tsukin]

No. It is not your fault if someone decides to pick up a gun and shoot someone because that's what their favorite super-villain or what have you did. In that case, if they thought it was cool, there's probably something really wrong with them and they are need of serious help and whether or not you wrote/drew what you did in the end they still would need help and would probably come to the same point in their life either way.

People need to understand that yeah art has power but at the end of the day art has no power OVER someone. In the end the person still has to willingly choose what their actions are and that's not on you.